BBC News Online has been shown just how lax security is on wireless networks used in London's financial centre. On one short trip, two-thirds of the networks we discovered using a laptop and free software tools were found to be wide open. Any maliciously minded hacker could easily join these networks and piggy back on their fast net links, steal documents or subvert other machines on the systems to do their bidding. None of the wireless networks we found used anything but their flawed, in-built security systems to protect against hack attacks.
On the warpath
Many people think of hacking as a sedentary pursuit, carried out in bedrooms and back rooms all over the world. Often it is, but the growing popularity of wireless networks is making some curious folk leave their bedrooms and venture out into the fresh air. Armed with a laptop, a wireless network adapter card, as well as some widely available software tools, you can travel the streets logging the location of these networks and picking up information that could let you attack them.
News source: Slashdot
View: BBC News
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